Introducing Strategic Web Design
You may have heard me mention “Strategic Web Design” recently..
And you’ve probably wondered what I’m talking about.
I guess it’s like my grand unifying theory… something that brings together everything I’ve been doing in SEO, in conversion, usability, persuasion, and graphic design.
Let me try to sum it up for you in a few sentences.
First, here’s what’s wrong with web design today…
Clients pay designers a big chunk of money for something they have no idea will work.
Put another way, it’s gambling!
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half!”
~ John Wanamaker
Now, I don’t believe in gambling.
I do believe in marketing, though.
And, what’s more, I believe that every dollar spent on marketing should generate more money for the client.
If you agree with me, read on…
That principle is really at the core of Strategic Web Design.
Instead of paying a big wedge of cash up-front, for someone’s “first best guess”, SWD says we should invest as little as possible in order to test a theory.
Instead, we want to develop rapidly, and make decisions quickly, based on facts, not opinion. Plus, every step should minimise risk and maximise return
on investment.
Here’s how it works…
Phase 1: Research
A Strategic web designer will spend much more time on research, interviewing the client, checking out the competition, defining the propositions, and estimating the size and composition of the market.
So, before we even fire up the FTP client, we have a really good idea of whether there’s likely to be a profitable market niche there, and how to reach them.
(Hint: a new website isn’t always the best way… But we’re interested in marketing, so we’re open to any channel, including Facebook, Etsy, LinkedIn, etc.)
Phase 2: Test Site
In the second phase, they’ll rapidly launch a thin website.
This won’t be over-designed, but based on the simplest appropriate theme.
The purpose of this website is to test the market, to answer questions like…
- How much traffic can we get, how easily?
- Is the market interested in our offerings?
We’re looking for actual, real-world data here… So that we can make good decisions.
Instead of spending days on graphics and production, SWD says, design the content! (If you’ve read Save the Pixel, you’ll recognise that phrase)
That means the propositions, the guarantee, the irresistible offer, the human story…
The second phase is complete when we have an initial round of stats on traffic, click-through rates, conversion rates, average sale value, etc.
Put those numbers together, and you’ll have a picture of how viable the market really is.
Then you should know how much every 1% of growth is worth — REAL ROI!
So you can decide whether to continue to invest in this opportunity, and how much.
The best bit is, you’ve got to this point with minimal investment.
Phase 3: Kaizen!
Can you guess what we do next? After we realise we have a viable opportunity?
We optimise. We build, step by step, inch by inch, day by day…
We add content that will bring more visitors into your sales funnel.
We test different appeals, headlines, angles, positions, imagery, messaging…
And – finally – we’ll test graphic design features. (The fact is, graphic design factors tend to be very minor… Content is far, far more significant. So why the hell do we spend so much on what doesn’t matter?!)
Repeat month by month.
Increase the traffic. Increase the conversion rates.
Spot the holes, and fix them.
Report to the client. Discuss what to do next.
Experiment. Have fun. Learn.
And – if you’re a STRATEGIC web designer – get paid every month…
And sleep well at night, knowing that your clients are making more money,
because of you.
What do you think? Comments below please…
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I work in a Japanese owned company, and we practice Kaizen. Keep making small improvements and over time you get big results.
Great idea Ben! I definitely think you’re on to something here. I’ve spoken to Sarah Peters personally and she is definitely a raving fan of yours! I’m interested in learning more about how you’ve earned recurring revenues from your website clients. Do you bill them for SEO or website conversion optimization?
Hi Tammy.
Going forward, my new agency will practice “strategic web design”, which incorporates SEO, conversion optimisation etc. all billed monthly.
This is exactly the same approach I take with every one of my client. Build to test the waters, get measured results and then optimize and collect stats. Great article!
Great Article, I’d also like to add a little bit: http://surefirewebservices.com/pro-web-design-course/strategic-web-planning
All from what I learned on the course! =) Great Job btw!
Good stuff Bendosan!
Thank you Mark-san.
Very insightful article. I have been struggling to explain the ROI to my clients when in comes to online marketing. This will make it easier to explain.
I think a lot of this crosses into the area of agile development / marketing as well. Especially iterative, incremental development, but with a web design spin (especially CRO).
Almost an additional layer that sits on top.
Very thought provoking.
Strategic Web Design!
How wonderful!
“I guess it’s like my grand unifying theory… something that brings together everything I’ve been doing in SEO, in conversion, usability, persuasion, and graphic design.”—Ben Hunt
What Ben seems to be identifying, here, is that Strategic Web Design is actually a *foundational* discipline…
one that is grounded in many aspects of marketing and advertising, which in turn are grounded in all that we know about human nature…
He’s also saying that a strategic web designer is the guy in charge!
Think about the last time you went to the doctor and sat across the desk from him telling him your symptoms…
and he stands up and points to the wall of medical books behind him and says…
“Well, why don’t you just read all these books here and figure out what’s wrong with you and I’ll return after lunch and we can talk about it.”
yikes!
Good doctors ask you questions, right?
right!
So if you go see a doctor who doesn’t ask you questions, you intuitively know that something is wrong, right?
right!
And most doctors these days have their assistant hand you some forms to fill out with lots of questions about your medical history, right?
right!
The difference between a “customer” and a “client” is this:
—————————————————
A client is someone who is under your protection…
—————————————————
…someone–or a group of someones–for whom you are an advocate…
You may not know everything about everything that affects web design, but you *do* know how to ask questions…
More than that, you actually know the questions to ask, even though sitting here right this minute, you might not think you do…
“A well-trained man knows how to answers questions; an educated man knows what questions are worth asking.”—E. Digby Baltzell
Anyone who has read Ben’s books and taken his course and watched his website-analysis videos is fully capable–in my opinion–of asking questions that are worth asking…
And for anyone who is not yet a student of Ben’s methods, you can get an *excellent* introduction to them by subscribing to his website-reviews video series for a mere $9 a month… absolutely the best value going for the money that you’re ever likely to find in the field of web-design training… WebsiteWorks.tv
If you take good notes as you watch each one, particularly with respect to *questions* you might one day ask your prospective clients about their websites and marketing strategies, you’ll gradually compile a website-marketing audit of your own…
Alternatively, there’s an 81-Question Marketing Audit included in my course on Client Attraction for Strategic Web Designers and Local-Business Service Providers…
It will help you to *take charge* of the situation with your client…
to be the “doctor” whose assistant hands the “patient” a questionnaire…
*not* just an ordinary provider who offers a free 1-hr consultation!
Anybody who takes *my* training will NEVER do *that* again as long as they live!
warmest regards…
Elizabeth
P.S.
The great thing about working through a marketing-audit questionnaire with your clients is that then you *also* have a handy-dandy laundry list of things that need doing, which you can then use when you sit down with them to decide which items should be done first…
Presto!
Instant Strategic Web Designer!
Interesting idea, but what I don’t understand is when and how much client should pay for us(% or fixed price)?. And how we can make this process(payment) more safe for us because client can say Goodbye and forget about our place in this project.
If you have answer on this question I’ll test this model very soon.
Great approach Ben! I’m tuning on the same frequency of this client relationship and this helped me indeed
But I was always curious about billing. You said you bill your customers monthly, but what is actually the “thing” you sell? Is it a guarantee that you earn more than the cost of your service? Or do you take a provision from money your website has made? Or when the customer has got specific requirements (his own content, photographing, custom functionality), do you include it in this monthly price or do you bill it extra?
Thanks a lot!
Btw I ordered your Convert! book recently so I’m looking forward do study it well
Hi Tom. Actually, with our new approach, we’re basing fees on the amount of profit we make our clients. (50% of the conservative estimate of additional profit over 6 months.)
Thanks
I tried a pretty similar approach when I take 10% of income from a newly created website and both my motivation and money is great! Everybody’s happy 
More of this cooperation!
Thanks Tom.